John Burns originals for sale

The Book Palace has three Modesty Blaise originals by John Burns for sale. The first two are unused art that was produced for Dead Man's Handle and The Xanadu Talisman (both 13x17 oil on card):

...and the third is the original art produced for the Titan Books reprint of the Modesty Blaise story 'Warlords of Phoenix'.

You can view (or buy!) these on The Book Palace website.
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New BBC Radio Play of A Taste for Death

BIG news, everyone... the BBC is producing a radio play of the Modesty Blaise novel A Taste for Death. The play will be serialised on Radio 4 in December (yes, this year!)

The script has been written by bestselling crime author Stef Penney (author of ‘The Tenderness of Wolves’), and Daphne Alexander has been confirmed for the part of Modesty Blaise.

I'll post any more details as I get them... stay tuned!

Missing Strip from The Wicked Gnomes

Hello everyone - this site's been quiet for a while as I've been busy with other projects, but here's an unusual gem for you: a missing strip! A faithful MB fan noticed that strip 3194 was missing from the Titan print of The Wicked Gnomes. The strip was very kindly sent in by another Modesty fan, so here it is:

You can click on the image to view a larger version.

Thanks to the fan who sent this in!

New Loopy Dave Cover - Those About to Die

Another gorgeous cover by Loopy Dave for Agent X9 magazine, for the Modesty Blaise story Those About to Die:

Amazing perspective on this one!

You can check out more at Deviant Art.
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Jim Holdaway and The Vanishing Lady

This treasure came to me from John Henley, a magician who once commissioned Jim Holdaway to illustrate a puzzle for him.

"Back in the 1960s/1970s, I owned and ran a magic shop in London, England, and was a keen follower of the Modesty Blaise cartoons, not just for the stories but also the style of artwork. When I was going to update a puzzle that we were going to reissue, I contacted Jim Holdaway to see if he would illustrate it, and was delighted when he agreed to come to my magic shop to discuss it. He was a nice guy, and occasionally I spoke to his wife too, but she had a nickname which escapes me... I think it was ‘Chip’. Anyway, after a long, long wait (artists always seem to be under the gun for their work), Jim provided me with the artwork, from which we had the plates made. If you check the picture, you will see Jim's signature and the 1969 copyright — not long before he died.

There are three parts that make up the full picture which relates to a puzzle called The Vanishing Lady. I was always appreciative of Jim's effort to produce this puzzle, and his artwork was first rate (I still have the original drawings).

The puzzle is, in fact, extremely clever, and Jim worked from an old-fashioned model that I used to sell in the early 1960s. There are three pieces of card: one long and two short. The two short pieces, when placed side by side, are the same length as the long piece. The three pieces are assembled with the long strip at the bottom and the two shorter pieces on top. With the pieces thus assembled, you see pictures of 15 pin-up girls. If you swap the positions of the two short pieces, the picture size is the same as before, but now you can see only 14 girls. One has disappeared. Which one, and where did she go?"

You can enlarge the images below to see the puzzle in the two different formats: one with 15 girls, one with 14.

 

John Henley is the international copyright holder of the illustrated puzzle; many thanks to him for sharing his story, as well as this beautiful Holdaway artwork that most of the world has never before seen!
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